Shows Worth Watching from 2017

Replacing my seasonal lists from last year, here are ten shows that I think you should watch from this year. Why? I don’t think I have enough shows from each season to make this list. A lot of shows I liked were two cour shows that upstaged a lot of series that started airing during their second cour’s run.

The only rule that I have is that these shows must have ended in 2017. That’s it. Nothing against sequels other than sequels can’t take up the entire list. Not a problem here.

In no particular order:

My Hero Academia Season 2

What can I say about this show that everybody else hasn’t said? It’s a well-constructed shonen series with a lot of emotional resonance, great characters, great action, and interesting political in the background. This second season completely blew away the already good first season. Yeah, that’s about it. If you haven’t watched it already, you are missing out.

Tsuki ga kirei

If you read the description of this show, you will say that it’s just a standard romance series between two middle schoolers. In some ways that is right, but this show is such a surprise. The characters are so relatable and captures the essence of the end of middle school. Our two characters find love in each other and fight for the hobbies that they want to stick with,even if they are going to be separated by miles. Please give this one a chance if you haven’t already. It’s just great and emotionally fulfilling.

March Comes in like a Lion

I am not sure how a few sentences can fully describe this show, but it’s wonderful. Rei Kiriyama’s shogi adventures with friends has just been a solid hit for me. While the focus is not always on Rei himself, but the result of each level is always wonderful. This show just knows where to strike me on an emotional level to make me almost cry each week. Either tears of joy or tears of sadness. Shaft’s unique directional style helps with all of this as well, because you can feel the emotions on screen without dialogue. Best choice for a show like this. Also, season two has been fantastic so far.

Made in Abyss

I have talked about this one a few times already, so I don’t want to gush over this one here when I can link you to a post to where I can gush about it in more detail. Click here

Girl’s Last Tour

Same as Made in Abyss. Please click here to read a post where I can gush about this show properly.

Descending Stories: Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinju

That sensational show from last year came back and boy was it needed. With Kikuhiko’s backstory finished up last time, this season we focus both on Kikuhiko as a teacher and Yotaro, his apprentice’s, growth as a learner. I don’t think that this season is as good as last season, but that doesn’t diminish this anime’s quality at all. Still fantastic story telling from end to end.

Scum’s Wish

Remember one particular show from this winter that was far from being clean? Well, I really liked it. Such a big departure from my usual tastes, but I surprise myself too sometimes. Even with all the sexual content in this series, it’s a show about finding who you are. These high school students and adults still haven’t found their identity yet, so this is an anime about these people finding themselves. Whether you find yourself positively or negatively, it worked for me.

ACCA-13

This might be a controversial post, but I really liked this show. It felt very anti anime, which worked for all the spy work that happened in it. The interesting adventures, the stoic dialogue with almost no emotions, the food, the various locations, and the political intrigue. Somehow, it all worked for me. I was invested in Jean’s adventures all the way through the anime and I am glad it ended well. What can I say? I’m a big sucker for spy stuff.

ID-O

I wrote about this shows on my Netflix watches post. Read more about it here.

Gundam Thunderbolt S2

This is Mechanical Anime Reviews. Did you not expect to have a Gundam show on this list? For those of you not in the know, Gundam Thunderbolt is an ova series set during the one year war of Gundam 0079. Well, the first season was. This season takes place after the war and around Zeon occupied territory on Earth. It’s one of those ovas that fills in some of the gaps between the One Year War and everything else in the Universal Century and boy is it good. While each episode is short, it still has great characters, great animation and art, and is just a great watch.

Honorable Mentions:
The following shows are really good, but they didn’t capture my mind and attention as much as the above.
Recovery of an MMO Junkie
Restaurant from Another World
Mobile Suit Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans S2
Tiger Mask W
Just Because
Sakura Quest
Blood Blockade Battlefront and Beyond

With all this said, this has been a great year for anime. Maybe a little front and back loaded, but I had enough shows to keep me entertained and move my mind in unique directions. 2016 was a little better though. I know that I missed out on a few shows, but I don’t have enough time to watch everything. Time isn’t a luxury that I have very often.

Thank you for reading this post. What were some 2017 shows that caught your attention? Also, expect a seasonal wrap up post next week.

Nice list. I still need to get access to Scum’s Wish at some point because I still want to see it. I also think Land of the Lustrous and KADO should be on the list (even though KADO had a train-wreck ending). They both did some interesting things with animation (Land of the Lustrous more successfully than KADO) and they are both ambitious in their narrative (with varying degrees of success). Still, both are worth at least checking out.

Great list! I can’t say that that I have seen all of the shows on your list, but the ones that you mention I have thoroughly enjoyed such as MHA and Girl’s Last Tour. As of now I have MMO Junkie and Sakura Quest on my top list as well. Than ks for sharing!

I saw quite a few of these shows as they were airing, but I think the only significant difference between the lists is that I think more highly of Netjuu no Susume than Tsukigakirei, mostly due to the latter’s CGI background characters and sometimes sloppy animation.

Of course, all will be revealed soon when my own ranking becomes public, so I won’t divulge more than that.